How many miles did our early Fords travel? Sometimes the answer surprises me.

[Rob]

This is the second Ford Model K I've found that claimed to have put over, or close to 200,000 miles on. This is from 1916, so the likelihood this car still exists is pretty good. When I first came upon this article, I thought, "ok, is this accurate?" "Did the person in named, L. H. DeGraaf, really own this K Roadster in 1907?" A little research provided some answers.

[Rob]

The first thing I found was that L. H. DeGraaf had been involved with selling automobiles from the earliest start of the industry. Leland H. DeGraaf started work for Winton prior to 1900. But the question remained, did he buy new, or own this Model K roadster?

[Moxie26]

Studebaker had an assembly plant in North Brunswick New Jersey during that time that is mentioned in the article.

[Rob]

Bob, that's interesting. I"m learning L. H. Lived in NJ and FL as well as Virginia during his career.

Turns out the answer to L.H. DeGraaf and his involvement with this Model K went back to at least 1908. He raced a "six cylinder Ford," beating a Buick in a ten mile race at the Virginia State Fair. This corroborates part of his initial report (photo at the top) saying he "won on the tracks of the Virginia State Fairgrounds."

While he appears to be a career car salesman, I find it interesting he still owns his 1907 Ford Model K in 1916, while working for Studebaker and Kissel Kar.

[Rob]

Found a local article regarding the 1908 State Fair races.

Race summaries:

In the recap of the ten mile race, the "K" Roadster defeated a Buick, averaging just over 42 mph. The time was the best of ten mile races with times listed, and better than the fifty mlle race pace:

The local Buick dealer placed this ad:

That's all I have. Things I hope to learn include, does this car still exist? Are the other races listed in the 1916 article "out there" to be found?

[DHort]

I see the Maxwell only made it about 30 miles and was done for.

[rmark]

Not a Ford, but dad says the family 1928 Dodge had over 300,000 miles on it when they sold it still running for $35 circa 1953, only rebuilt the engine once he recalls, says those were good engines. Besides being the family car it was later the service vehicle for the family auto repair shop.

[Rob]

Mark,
It's surprising how many miles people put on these early cars. I just came across a Ford Model C in which an owner claimed to have put almost 40,000 miles in a year. I don't know if thats accurate, and it seems like an incredible number of miles, even today. Maybe it was a typo and should have been "4,000." However, I have found several instances where 5,000-10,000 miles were credited to an early car pre-1910.

I have another example of a Model K being driven over 220,000 by 1921. That Model K still exists today.
Cheers,
Rob

[rmark]

My grandfather once told me about him running his moms Model T off the road and down a barbed wire fence, out in west Oklahoma. This would be in 1926-1928. Cars can last forever if you can get parts and don't wreck them.